


Beginning of Belonging

by AHaplessBystander



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Yakuza, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bathing/Washing, Cliffhangers, Cuddling, Established Relationship, Light Angst, M/M, Self-Doubt, Xmas fic, Yakuza!Grimmjow, student!ichigo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:55:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28303428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHaplessBystander/pseuds/AHaplessBystander
Summary: It's dead week and Christmas is creeping closer. On top of worrying about finals and the possibility of spending the holidays with the Kurosaki family, Grimmjow can't shake the feeling that something is stalking him. And as the feeling grows, doubt and the need to run threaten his hopes of a new life.A GrimmIchi University/Yakuza AU!
Relationships: Grimmjow Jaegerjaques/Kurosaki Ichigo
Kudos: 25
Collections: GrimIchi Secret Santa Exchange 2020





	Beginning of Belonging

**Author's Note:**

  * For [youknowthelines](https://archiveofourown.org/users/youknowthelines/gifts).



> Happy holidays! I hope you enjoy this gift, it's been fun to write again and to write for my favorite Bleach characters for the first time!
> 
> A bit of a warning: this first part is the hurt/angst, the next part is still coming but I promise it's all comfort and snuggles to fix everything.  
> The story got a bit out of hand （；^ω^）I hope they aren't too OOC.

The streets were empty and quiet as Grimmjow wound his way through them. The distant sound of cars and dogs barking were all he could pick up, Karakura Town slept in a way that Tokyo never did.

It was nearing 2 a.m. and for each street Grimmjow had been down tonight he’d found no familiar faces, recognized no cars or license plates. But the prickling sensation of eyes on him chased him down another side street and up the stairs of a modest apartment building. His long legs skipping steps, breaths coming out in icy clouds and carrying him up to the third story before the sensation finally started to subside.

He fished out a key from the inside pocket of his jacket and silently let himself into an apartment. The entry light had been left on but the rest of the apartment was dark. His tall boots got neatly placed next to a pair of sneakers in the genkan and he padded farther in. As his eyes adjusted he made out a couch and a kotatsu with neat stacks of hardcovers and notebooks on it. Farther in the bedroom door was slightly ajar but everything was still as he slipped past and into the bathroom.

The hot spray from the shower was a shock to his winter frozen skin. Scrubbing at the dirt on his hands and face, he erased the evidence of the city and the last of his unsettled feelings went down the drain with it. Finished he left the bathroom and paused once more in front of the ajar door, the soft darkness within calling to him. He shut his eyes, straining to hear the quiet breaths from the room's occupant.

It would be unfair to disrupt his sleep when it was Grimmjow's brain that wouldn't quiet down.

Instead he flopped down on the couch, curling his tall frame to fit and wondering why the need to run had become so strong lately until sleep took him.

* * *

A whisper of clothes pricked at the edge of his consciousness and was the only warning Grimmjow had before something impacted his head-- jolting him wide awake and upright. He stared as the pillow that had been thrown at him fell to the carpet. A figure at the end of the couch caught his eye and Grimmjow looked up into Ichigo's pinched face.

Dim morning light filtered in through the windows. Ichigo was still in his undershirt and sweats, orange hair mussed up from sleep, arms crossed over his chest.

Silence stretched between them and Grimmjow wondered for another week in a row if this time would be the final straw, when Ichigo would finally realize he wasn't worth the effort and kick him out.

"You know you can sleep in the bed right?"

"Nn. I got back late. Didn't want to wake you," Grimmjow grumbled back.

He quirked up an eyebrow in wry smile, "Like the shower didn't already?"

"Oh," he could clearly picture it in his head: Ichigo wide awake, laying in bed waiting for him even after the water had shut off. But he'd never climbed into the bed with him.

Grimmjow clenched his fists in his lap. Then a finger tipped his face back up to meet brown eyes.

"Next time, it doesn't matter if you wake me. I'd rather have you next to me than out here," he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his mouth. Grimmjow watched, brain staticky, as he headed into the kitchen pulling down ingredients for breakfast.

“I’m gonna make something quick, I’ve got class soon. Do you want anything?”

Sliding back down onto his side his gaze landed on the stack of textbooks.

Fuck, that’s right class.

He groaned into the pillow, “Just coffee.”

Ichigo snorted, “Sure old man. You’re going to waste away if you keep living like this.”

Grimmjow pushed his head back into the pillow, he was too tired for this shit.

* * *

A frigid rain that had started to fall put Grimmjow in an even worse mood. It wasn’t that he hated class. It was a necessary hurdle for his current goals and some of them even managed to keep his attention. The studying was more of a drag but even that he could get through.

No, it was more that the classes hated him. The professors, the other students, they all made it clear he wasn’t wanted there. Grimmjow was used to funny looks and people crossing the street to avoid him with his blue hair and the puckered scar along his cheek. What really seemed to get those educated fuckers though were the turquoise tattoos around his eyes.

They thought it marked him as a predator. A criminal. A yakuza.

It made them fear him.

And their instincts were right to be afraid. That brought Grimmjow a sick satisfaction even if he had left any formal yakuza connections behind when he’d chosen to hunt down some orange haired punk he wasn’t willing to lose to.

Now here he was, trying to fit into a society that didn’t want him. Too bad for them Ichigo was so insistent on him having a legitimate job.

“Okay class! This will be our last review session before the final so now’s the time for questions,” the professor announced, pulling out a stack of papers to be passed out.

Grimmjow opened his notebook with a sigh heavy enough that his soul might have fled with the air. At least the yakuza hadn’t made him write timed essays.

The professor's voice droned on and Grimmjow tried to focus. This final for structural engineering would probably be his hardest yet his mind kept wandering. First to wonder whether he should get Ichigo a gift despite the other man's insistence that he didn't want anything from him. And then back again to the invisible feeling of eyes watching his every move that had forced him out onto the streets at night.

Aizen had found him as a stray, surviving on the streets and given him a place. Even among Aizen's yakuza ranks he'd had to fight for his place and was sure the only reason he hadn’t died had been because they'd found use in his fighting skills. He had plenty of troops, surely he wouldn't care enough about one stray to come this far to look for Grimmjow.

Yet that was the only answer he could think of for this feeling. But still no signs of his old group around Karakura Town.

Maybe Ichigo was right and the stress from finals really was getting to him.

After his classes finished for the day, Grimmjow stepped outside and pulled his scarf tighter to himself. The dead of winter was the worst. The bright lights strung up around town did little to cheer him up but at least the rain had stopped. He debated heading straight back to the apartment to curl up under the kotatsu.

Instead he swung into a Starbucks to order a cappuccino and eggnog, glaring daggers the entire time at the overly cheerful barista. Hot drinks in hand he headed into the campus library. It was the one part of school he could actually appreciate: the mazes of books were easy to lose himself in and the marble steps of the spiral staircase at its center held an unexpected grandeur. Since deciding to study alongside Ichigo they’d spent many afternoons pouring over notes and quizzing each other.

There was a secluded table deep in the stacks on the fourth floor. Ichigo camped out there during dead week, every time claiming it helped him think better than at home. As Grimmjow made his way towards the corner he started to pick up the murmur of voices and soft giggles.

Still hidden by the bookshelves he peeked through a gap to see a small cluster of people around his and Ichigo’s table.

Ichigo, in that dark blue v-neck he looked stupid good in, sitting surrounded by his group of friends: Rukia, Renji, and Orihime. Ichigo was easy to be around, it didn’t even feel like he needed to try to be a person. The rest, it still felt like they held judgement in their looks and the way conversation petered out around him.

So he stayed hidden, clutching the drinks against his chest and listening as the group said their goodbyes. They pass by his bookshelf, Rukia and Renji still engrossed in conversation but Orihime’s eyes met his and she gave him a shy smile before moving past.

She’s the one who threw him off balance the most. She had to be the same kind of crazy as Ichigo was to forgive him so easily when he had partially been responsible for her kidnapping at the hands of the yakuza years ago.

He waited a couple more minutes before rounding the corner and thrusting the eggnog towards Ichigo.

“Here’s your gross-ass drink,” he said, plunking down on the seat next to him.

“Hey! Thanks!” Ichigo took a sip then leaned over and gave Grimmjow a wet kiss on the cheek.

“Disgusting,” it just made Ichigo’s smile wider, “What are you working on?”

“Ah, my paper for psych. It’s going slow,” he rubbed a hand through his hair and looked sheepish.

Grimmjow would have thought that Ichigo’s weird need to save people would have driven him towards being a first responder of some kind. That’s where they were the same, both willing to jump headfirst into danger. But instead he was going to make his career out of sticking his nose in other people’s business as some kind of counselor.

It just meant Grimmjow would get all the glory when he could finally get out on the streets to fight fires.

He settled in, pulling out his notes and test guides. Ichigo glanced at him, “Y’know, you didn’t have to wait. My friends don’t mind you joining in.”

It felt like an echo of this morning, Ichigo once again giving him permission to do things. He squashed down his need to retort and escalate, staying quiet and sorting through his notes.

He could do whatever he wanted, no permission or acceptance needed.

* * *

They spent all afternoon studying for their finals coming in the next couple days. Their drinks are emptied, shoulders and knees brush against each other in quiet companionship as they shuffle through papers.

It’s dark when they finally head home. They walk side by side across the square in the middle of the university campus. This close to Christmas it’s filled with a large tree strung up with twinkling lights.

Ichigo caught his hand, pulling him to stop and look up at it. He threaded their fingers together, watching Ichigo’s face instead, his eyes bright and smile soft.

“After finals are over, what do you want to do to celebrate? My dad invited us to spend the holidays at the house with them,” he looked up at Grimmjow, “but I know they can be a bit much.”

That was such an understatement.

Ichigo’s family was bizarre and hyperactive. The first time he’d met them they’d accepted him too readily, not put off by him in the least. His sisters had asked too many prying questions like how many people he’d killed and their dad was even worse: showering him with physical affection and calling him ‘son’ all the time. Grimmjow secretly suspected Ichigo had pulled them aside beforehand and spilled about his lacking childhood.

He shuddered, thinking how nuts their house would be during the holidays.

“I’d rather not,” he watched Ichigo’s hopeful look fall neutral. He knew how much Ichigo’s family meant to him. Sighing, he finished, “But...maybe we could stop by for a short visit on New Year’s.”

He couldn’t stop himself then with the way Ichigo’s expression opened back up. Leaning down he pulled Ichigo to him and into a kiss. Ichigo pressed up for more, swiping his tongue along his bottom lip. Grimmjow started to open up to him when a prickling clawed up his spine and the feeling of being watched returned forcefully.

He bristled, tightening his grip on Ichigo and surprising him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Grimmjow took a step back, turning away and trying to subtly scan the area, “Nothin’, just ready to get home and out of the cold.”

Ichigo didn’t press him and they headed home. The feeling accompanying them the entire way.

If this really was yakuza business then he didn’t want Ichigo to get dragged into it again. The punk had interfered enough the one summer he and his friends had spent in Tokyo, grabbing Aizen’s attention enough by interrupting his street extortions and making themselves into targets.

Ichigo was good in a fight, damn hard to beat even for Grimmjow. But if this was his past coming for him, he would deal with it alone.

It had to be tonight. The feeling persisted even into the safety of the apartment. He was already planning out his patrol routes in his mind as they ate dinner.

As Ichigo settled under the kotatsu to finish his essay Grimmjow pulled on his jacket and boots.

“Wait, you’re actually going out again tonight?” he asked.

Grimmjow just grunted in reply, pulling on his gloves and scarf.

“Grimm, what about studying? You gotta pass these finals if you want to get accepted as a firefighter!”

“It’ll be fine. I know my stuff. I’ll be back earlier tonight, I won’t let myself fall behind you when I’m almost at victory.”

Ichigo gave him a disapproving look but didn’t stop him.

The icy night air bit at his cheeks as he stalked off. It was so goddamn annoying that he couldn’t track down the source of this feeling. He turned down yet another street and saw nothing suspicious. If only he had a superior sense of smell then he could-- a yank on his scarf pulled him off balance and into an alleyway as he slipped out of the cloth, leaving it to flutter onto the ground behind him as he squared up against his wouldbe attackers.

Three men he didn’t recognize boxed him in as one that he did recognize emerged from the deep shadows: a tall man with long, wispy black hair and an eyepatch. His lips parted in a cruel, toothy grin.

“Nnoitra. I wasn’t expecting a lapdog like you would be sent to chase me,” Grimmjow said, hands curling into fists.

“Oh my poor, stupid Grimmjow. You should know by now that if you betray Aizen you have to die,” he cooed, “I just happened to want the honor of being the one to finally take you down.”

Grimmjow cackled, “And that’s why you brought these nobodies? Scared you couldn’t do it on your own?”

He shrugged and drew out a knife, “This is a battle. Of course it’s going to be unfair. You’re going to pay for your betrayal with your life. And when I’m done with you, I’ll take care of your little boytoy nuisance as well.”

There was no fucking way this loser was going to take him down. And there was no way he would let him put his hands on Ichigo. He would win and then he would pass his finals and get to stay with Ichigo.

Lightning fast Grimmjow aimed a kick at Nnoitra’s chest, knocking him back before turning to the others and leaping into an attack.

**Author's Note:**

> I am just consumed with the idea of Grimmjow as a firefighter and the silly image of Ichigo as a counselor scaring teens into going onto a better path. I don't much about what it takes to become a firefighter in Japan but let's pretend you'd need some college classes.
> 
> Part 2 will be added in a couple days!


End file.
